1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the art of landscape maintenance.
More particularly, this invention relates to a system for ensuring the healthy growth of vegetation such as trees.
In a further and more specific aspect, the instant invention concerns a landscape maintenance system including a soil extraction tool and a guard for protecting plants from string trimmers and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The survival of young plants, such as trees, shrubs, vegetables, and flowers, is dependent on a large number of environmental factors. Among such factors are the quality of the soil in which the plants are established, the amount of water and nutrients available, and the presence or absence of protection from externally inflicted damage by humans and/or animals. Constant, careful maintenance is required to control these factors if the good health and longevity of the plants is to be ensured.
A complete plant maintenance program consists of three major components. First, the soil must be tested to determine its quality, or to diagnose any deficiencies which may prevent a plant from flourishing. Second, the soil must be enhanced by adding water, nutrients, and any other additives needed to remedy whatever deficiencies have been identified. Third, the plant and its environment must be protected from outside damage. Different tools are utilized for each of these components of a plant maintenance system.
The sampling and analysis component of a plant maintenance program is commonly performed with the aid of a sampler comprising an elongated tubular member secured to an elongated shaft having a T-handle. The bottom end of the tubular member is provided with a sharpened edge or point for penetrating the ground. To extract a soil sample, a user drives the tubular member into the ground by bearing down on the T-handle. Soil then enters the sampler through a longitudinal opening in the tube, forming a plug. After the sampler is withdrawn from the ground, the plug is shaken, knocked or scraped from the tube as necessary.
Prior art sampling devices have suffered from a number of disadvantages. For example, many devices require excessive force for driving the sample tube into the ground and subsequently pulling it out again, particularly when the ground is hard. This can result in bodily injuries to the user. In addition, most sampling devices lack any type of provision for completely ejecting a plug from the tube. Thus, portions of old soil plugs may mix with and contaminate the most recent plug, making accurate analysis impossible.
The soil enhancement component of a plant maintenance program requires a variety of tools for penetrating the soil and delivering nutrients as close as possible to the feeder roots of a plant. Such tools include spades, shovels, and boring devices for digging to the appropriate depth, and pipes, hoses, and other conduits for delivering water and nutrients once that depth has been reached.
Prior art boring and digging devices have suffered from many of the same deficiencies as the sampling devices. Namely, excessive force is required to penetrate the soil. In addition, the length of most devices is either too short for plants with very deep root systems, or too long for plants with shallow root systems, or both. It is therefore difficult to ensure that water and nutrients are delivered to a location where they will be quickly absorbed by the roots.
The protective component of a plant maintenance system consists primarily of placing an effective barrier between the plant and any potential sources of injury. Chemical barriers are commonly used to prevent insect-inflicted injury, while physical barriers are used to prevent domestic animal and human-inflicted injury.
One way in which humans commonly damage plants is by careless use of string trimmers and similar tools. For instance, while trimming the grass near a small sapling, a maintenance worker may come too close to the sapling, allowing the line from the trimmer to strike and scar the base of the plant. Other damage may come from household pets who dig and paw around the stems of plants. This type of damage is avoided by erecting a guard at the base of the plant. Such guards not only protect the plant from string trimmers and household pets, but they may protect the pets by preventing them from ingesting chemical fertilizers or insecticides which may have been deposited near the roots of the plant.
A typical prior art plant guard consists of a sheet of flexible material which is wrapped around the plant to form a tubular sheath, and secured in place by nailing. An obvious drawback of this type of guard is that the nail itself causes injury to the plant. Another drawback is that the guards include no provision for adapting to the constantly increasing girth of the plant. Thus, it is necessary to replace each guard with a larger diameter guard as the base of the plant becomes thicker This can become exceedingly bothersome when certain rapidly-growing species of trees are involved.
It would be highly advantageous, therefore, to remedy the foregoing and other deficiencies inherent in each of the above type of landscape maintenance tools.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved vegetation maintenance system.
Another object of the invention is the provision of complementary tools for sampling and/or treating the soil near a plant, and subsequently protecting the plant and treated area from outside intrusion.
And another object of the invention is to provide a soil extraction tool with means for completely expelling a plug of soil from its interior after use.
Still another object of the invention is the provision of a soil extraction tool with detachable segments for selectively varying the length of the device to correspond to different root depths.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a soil extraction tool with a sharpened bottom end and an anvil surface formed at its upper end for facilitating penetration of hardened ground.
Yet still another object of the invention is the provision of an improved guard member for protecting a plant in soil which has been diagnosed and treated using the aforementioned soil extraction tool.
And a further object of the invention is to provide a self-supporting plant guard which does not require the use of nails or other hardware.
And still a further object of the invention is the provision of an adjustable plant guard, the size of which can be selectively varied to accommodate a rapidly growing plant.
And yet a further object of the invention is to provide a plant guard with an outwardly tapering base for conforming to the outwardly tapering base of a tree trunk.
And yet still a further object of the invention is the provision of a plant guard with openings for allowing air and sunlight to reach the bottom of the plant.
And still a further object of the invention is the provision of complementary landscaping tools, according to the foregoing, which are relatively inexpensive to manufacture and comparatively simple and easy to use.